perfectly thankful. and potatoes.

before i got married, i used to go and have thanksgiving dinner with my family.

i'd ignore the turkey (and the comments..."but you'll eat turkey today, right?"  "no.  i'm vegetarian today, too.") and eat the side dishes and it was all fine and lovely.

hubby and i did that for a few years after we were married, too.

but then one year we decided we'd like a whole thanksgiving meal.

so we skipped the family meal and made our own vegetarian-friendly thanksgiving meal.

almost like an experiment.

and it was a success.

vegan roast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, steamed veggies, cranberries...

a whole meal.

then we went for dessert with the family.

it worked out really well.  nearly perfect.

so now that's what we do.

this year we made a big, veggie thanksgiving lunch.

both of us together, in our kitchen that is too small for two people, let alone two people and all that food.

it was tight, but perfectly lovely.

and we learned that 5 pounds of potatoes and 2 people is the perfect ratio....

and that cashew/almond whipped cream is just plain perfect.

and we recalled all that we have to be so very, very thankful for.

then we went to be with the whole family.

and it was perfect.

plain and simple.


*******
you capture

it's tradition

i am a big believer in tradition.

 

big.

 

because i believe it provides a sense of security; something on which to be counted.

 

it give a reason to pause, and breathe, and take stock.

 

like maybe life is woven together, just a little bit, by tradition.

 

of course they're different for everyone. which is kind of the beauty of it.

 

 

it's been interesting to me, over the past few years, to see that traditions are pliable.

they can bend and stretch to include new family members: spouses, partners, children.

they can grow and become more than anyone knew was possible.

it's been interesting to me, over the past several years, to be part of the emergence of new traditions.

traditions created by the small family unit of hubby and me.

we went into the city, as we always do, the saturday before thanksgiving.

boarded the train early in the morning, peppermint mochas in hand, off to see the storefront windows all done up for the holidays.

we go, spend the day, eat wonderful food (lots of it...), drink warm beverages...

we start the holiday season.  officially.  offically for us, at least.

inevitably, something will make me cry  {because when you walk in to a store, all decorated and ready for the holidays, with trees and lights and holly, and the first thing you hear is the who's down in whoville singing "fa who for ay, da who dor ay, welcome christmas bring your cheer...." how can you not start to cry?} and hubby will smile and shake his head, possibly wondering how he got mixed up with the crazy lady crying in the middle of the store.

we will, hopefully, find something small to add to our home-for-the-holidays.

but mostly we pause, and breathe, and take stock.

we let the magic and beauty of tradition remind us of what's important, and who is important, and why it's so important to pause and remember the importance.

because that's part of the tradition, too.


********
you capture

distress and de-stress

i spent two weeks being a mess. a great big honking mess.

i had a headache that started at my eyebrows, went back, up, down, and spread out into my shoulders.  it lasted for three days.

i had a digestive system that was in knots.  and knots.  and knots.

i blame the election.  i get nervous about things, and i was beyond nervous about that. 

i blame conferences.  i get nervous about things.  and i was a normal amount of nervous about that.

in the middle of the mess, i took half a day off work for hubby's birthday.  that was nice.  we had starbucks and ate cupcakes.  he opened presents.  i made tacos, because that's what he loves the most.

then the election happened.  and i felt like i could breathe again.  and my headache went away.  so that was good.

then conferences happened.  (they started the day after the election.  who planned that?)  and they went well.  and that was good.

my digestive system started to unknot itself.  (that usually takes awhile, but still.  it's happening.)

and then one of hubby's dreams came true (okay, he made it come true, but still...) and everyone came together on a saturday afternoon to play flag football.  we called it footballpalooza 2012.  and that was really good.

and now?

haul out the holly.

the holidays are on their way.

and that is wonderful.


**********
you capture